One of our readers pointed out that Bolton D4 and AMD A85X are the same chipset and according to what AMD tells its partners, we are talking about two different SKUs.

The only notable distinction between Bolton D4 and AMD A85X is that Bolton supports both FM2 and FM2+ sockets.

Richland A series 28nm APU are supposed to run on FM2, the same socket that will be introduced with Trinity A10 5800K and five other slower quad- and dual-core SKUs, but the hint of FM2+ makes us wonder about possible some new features for the 2013, 28nm APU.

The Bolton D4 chipset is expected in early Q1 2013, if all goes well for AMD, and at least in theory AMD A85X boards should support Richland. However, AMD is telling its partners that they will need Bolton D4 or Bolton D3 – trim spec’d version of the chipset in order to make the 2013 generation APU work.

Let’s hope that Richland can meet current plans and show its face in late Q2 2013 and keep the current schedule, as that would be a refreshing change for AMD.